Tesla Wants To Give Its Battery Tech To Everyone For Free

The electric car manufacturer has Supercharger stations throughout the country, enabling coast-to-coast travel.

The indie darling of the electric car industry is trying to go mainstream, and it’s hoping mainstream automakers will follow suit.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, announced on the electric vehicle manufacturer’s site that the company’s “wall of Telsa patents” has been taken down, and the company is allowing anyone to use its patents and technologies. According to Musk, “Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.”

Tesla’s not dismissive of the competition, it’s worried about the lack of it. Musk believes that the real danger to his electric dream isn’t other competitive electric cars, but the glut of gasoline-powered vehicles that continue to flood the market and keep public opinion in favor of traditional automobiles. “Our true competition is not the small trickle of non-Tesla electric cars being produced, but rather the enormous flood of gasoline cars pouring out of the world’s factories every day,” said Musk.

Tesla recently announced its decision to create a battery manufacturing “gigafactory” in the U.S., which will eventually become the largest supplier of batteries for its cars, as well as help drive down “the per kWh cost of our battery pack by more than 30 percent,” according to Tesla.

Giving away your company’s proprietary technology isn’t without its drawbacks, however. Many investors and analysts worry the decision could be the signs of a company worried about its technology not taking off. Tesla only has 100 of its Supercharger stations around the U.S., compared to the tens of thousands of gas stations throughout the country.